Give Me Your Rain
by Brown Eyes Parker
Summary: All the times Josh has his heart broken by a girl who isn't Maya and all the times Maya picks up the pieces. Joshaya. Rated Kplus. Birthday Gift for boymeetsgmw.


**Give Me Your Rain**

 **A Josh & Maya Story**

 **By Brown Eyes Parker**

 **Rated: K+**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

 **.**

 _For boymeetsgmw, happy birthday!_

 _ **I'm your nightstand drawer**_

 _ **Give me your secrets**_

 _ **Give me your longings**_

 _ **Give me a chance  
to hold these things. . .**_

The first time she was there for him was completely by accident. They were in the same place at the same time just two kids on a New York subway. She was on her way home from a fake date with Farkle. He had been rejected by his college tour guide. Maya came over to see how he was doing after she had left him all alone.

And they talked for a little bit and she made him feel better.

Sophie Miller was forgotten and he was smiling so much his cheeks hurt. He got off at the next stop because his heart was beating too fast and too hard from being near her.

 **.**

When he was a senior in high school, he got his first girlfriend and he could map out a lifetime with her. She was a lot of his first. The girl he got drunk with for the first time, the first girl he brought home to meet his family, the first girl he kissed. The first girl he got kicked out of the movie theater with for making too much noise during a scary movie. She was the first girl he actually thought about losing his virginity to and sharing a future with. She was the first girl he thought could actually fit the girl his brother had described to him before he was even old enough to understand what he meant.

But it wasn't meant to be. A few days before prom, she broke up with him because her college boyfriend wanted to get back together with her. The days after that were a blur of booze and sleeping all day to escape the pain.

The next thing he knew, somebody was throwing the curtains open and letting sunlight into his bedroom. He opened one eye and saw Maya looking at him, with her arms across her chest.

"Riley told me what happened," she said.

"Don't you have to be at a rodeo?" Josh asked, surprised by his bitterness. He rolled on his stomach and buried his head in his pillow.

"Huckleberry and I are _over_ ," Maya announced without fanfare as she pulled his covers off of him. "He finally decided to speak up and when he did, it turned out he didn't want me."

Josh grunted, supposing he should feel sorry for her but misery loves company, so he couldn't bring himself to be sympathetic.

"Did you come to commiserate?"

"No. I was over Lucas almost as soon as he said he liked Riley the most," Maya answered, sitting down on the edge of his mattress. "The whole thing was a huge confusing mess."

"So, why are you here then?"

"I heard your prom was tonight," Maya answered.

"So? I'm not going."

"Oh, you're going."

"Like I'm going to show up without a date. Especially when _she's_ going to be there with her college boyfriend."

"I'm going to be your date," Maya said.

"If you're trying to help me make her jealous, I don't think a freshman in _high school_ is going to do the trick," Josh all but retorted.

"Maybe not," Maya agreed. "But she'll _hate_ that you're having a good time so soon after breaking up with you. Girls like her like to keep their options open and it'll kill her."

"I don't think I'll be very good company tonight."

"Pretend."

"I can't."

"You can and you will," Maya replied. "Now get out of bed and go take a shower. You look terrible! Are you hungry? I'm going to make breakfast."

"You don't have to do that!" Josh protested but the door had shut behind her before he had finished speaking.

When he had showered and gotten dressed, he went downstairs. Maya was singing along to his mother's old Whitney Houston CDs and making pancakes.

"You shouldn't be drinking you know," she told him.

"So you're policing me now?" Josh asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee before sitting down on the countertop.

"Just stating the obvious," Maya answered. "Underage drinking is never the answer."

"Shhh! My parents don't know!" Josh hissed.

Maya waved him off. "They've been gone for hours!"

"Oh."

"Did you love her?"

"Yes," Josh answered honestly. "I mean maybe. Maybe I just loved the idea of her. Obviously she didn't love me."

"She's missing out," Maya told him as she slid a plate of pancakes over to him. "Her loss, you know?"

Josh sighed. "All I wanted was to have what Cory and Topanga had."

"We all do," Maya answered. "You just need to find the _right_ person to have it with. And she wasn't that person, so don't say anything. If she were that person then I wouldn't be here right now."

"What are you doing here anyways?"

"Checking on you. We're friends. Friends do that sort of stuff for each other."

"I have lots of girlfriends and none of them would go out of their way to check on me."

"Yeah but that's because they don't have your brother as a teacher. He's constantly telling us to look out for each other."

"That's true," Josh acknowledged.

There was a pause and then Maya smirked at him. "So Matthews, do you still have a dinner reservation for tonight?"

"I never got around to canceling it," Josh answered. "You got a dress for tonight, Hart?"

"Yes, your mom told me to put it in Morgan's old room. You'll see it when it's time to go," Maya answered. "Eat something!"

Later that day, Josh sat in the living room waiting for Maya to come downstairs. He wasn't too anxious to go to the prom but he couldn't very well refuse Maya after she had gone to so much trouble for him.

His brother and Riley would kill him if he was rude to her.

Besides, part of him kind of appreciated what she was doing for him. Maybe the sweetest revenge would be pretending to have a good time with a great girl.

"Josh!" Amy called. "Maya's ready to go!"

Josh stood up and watched as Maya came down the stairs in a golden mini dress that looked like something from _Leave It to Beaver_ or _the Dick Van Dyke Show_.

"It was all Riley and I could find on short notice," Maya explained, smiling at him.

"You, um, you look really nice!" Josh answered, taking the white gardenia out from the plastic container and slipping it on her wrist.

"I need pictures!" Amy squealed, snapping a few candid shots with her digital camera. "Okay! Get closer to Maya, Josh! There! That's _perfect_!"

"We're going to be late for the dinner reservations!" Josh said after she'd taken a few dozen pictures of them posing together.

"Okay. Have a great time and don't stay out too late!" Amy sang as she saw them out the door. "Be nice to her Josh!"

Once they got to the dance, Maya was a good sport and danced with most of his dateless friends when they asked her, making sure to go back and stand with him in between songs and laugh at the things he said. Even when they weren't funny.

When the last slow song of the evening started to play, she dragged him to the dance floor and wrapped his arms around her waist and they were dancing as close as they could without breaking any kind of school rules.

Whatever Maya was trying to accomplish had worked. His ex-girlfriend spent the duration of the song shooting daggers at her with her eyes.

 **.**

His college girlfriend lasted the duration of three years.

Josh had actually gone as far as buying an engagement ring with money he'd saved from weekends working at _Topanga's_. He had been halfway through the proposal when she'd closed the lid of the velvet jewelry box and shaken her head.

"You thought what we had was serious? Josh, nobody ever marries their college boyfriend! I'm going to study abroad in two weeks. Is this your way of trying to tie me down!?"

"No! I _love you_!" Josh protested.

"You don't know what love is. _I_ don't even know what love is! Come on Josh, we're barely 22."

Josh looked at her in disbelief. "My brother and sister-in-law. . ."

"Yeah, it's amazing they even made it this far. In real life, they never would have lasted. One of them would have wondered what they were missing out by now."

"What?"

"By not being with other people?" She sighed. "Listen. If you're still interested in getting married when I get back then we'll talk about it. But right now, I want to see what else is out there."

"And what am I supposed to do? Just wait around here like a faithful little puppy hoping someday you'll call me?" Josh asked.

"You can do the same thing I'm doing," she answered. "Experiment even. How can you be so sure of everything you want right now? You're so young."

Josh shook his head, stunned by the turn of events. He wondered how he could have been so blind for so long and then his heart broke. He knew this was going to be the last time he ever saw her.

He got up and left her without saying another word.

Somehow he found himself outside the studio where Maya painted when she wasn't too busy with her classes and homework. She had always been able to help him. He needed to see her.

He knocked twice and hoped she would be there. After a few seconds of waiting, the door slid open and classical music came pouring out of the room. She was standing in the threshold in an old denim shirt and with a smear of bright blue paint on her cheek.

"Josh!" Maya said. "What are you doing here? I thought tonight was the night you were proposing. . . you should be in the middle of dessert and making plans for your Christmas wedding."

"Can I come in?" Josh asked.

Maya's smile faded. "Of course! Is everything okay?"

Josh shrugged and followed her inside. "I'm here, aren't I?"

Maya went over to the ancient boom box and turned the music down. "I was just listening to my homework. Music theory. . ." she trailed off. "Sorry. You don't care about that right now. She said no, didn't she?"

"They always say no. You'd think I'd be better at choosing girlfriends. My brother _is_ married to his childhood sweetheart."

"You're not your brother," Maya reminded him as she started to clean up her paint supplies.

Josh sighed and followed her to the sink. "He said I'd meet somebody like Topanga one day."

"You seriously need to stop living off that," Maya answered. "You're asking the girls you date to live up to an impossibly high standard. Listen, I know you're upset. You thought this girl was the one. To be honest, I think we all did."

"You didn't."

"It doesn't matter what I thought," Maya said softly. "I wasn't the one dating her or making plans to spend my future with her."

"You're always alone. . ." Josh said wistfully.

"I've only met one person I could have possibly thought about spending forever with but the age difference was always a little too much for him. I certainly haven't met anybody that I liked more than him," Maya replied. "And that's why I'm alone right now. Except I'm not really alone. You always seem to show up."

Josh smiled faintly. "And what about Lucas?"

"I told you a long time ago. That whole thing was a big confusing mess. I didn't ever like him as much as I liked you. Is this conversation helping you feel any better?"

"I don't know," Josh said honestly.

Maya tugged on his hand. "Come on, there's only one thing that'll help this whole mess."

"Ice cream?" Josh guessed.

"Ice cream."

 **.**

"I feel like I should be more upset than I am. I just feel empty," Josh confessed. "Like she rejected me so she could go and sleep her way through Europe and I feel nothing."

"I'm sure she didn't say that."

"It was implied," Josh answered. "We're too young to know if we want to spend the rest of our lives together. She's not the girl I fell in love with."

"To be quite honest, I don't think you ever really knew her to begin with," Maya said. "This is a drastic change to make in a short amount of time."

"I've been dating her for three years," Josh retorted.

"Again, it isn't that long. This is college. Sometimes people pretend to be something they're not."

"You don't. . ." Josh replied. "And I certainly don't."

Maya licked her ice cream and swallowed. "Well, you aren't like everybody else."

"You're not like _any_ girl that I know. What kind of girl does this sort of thing for a boy without expecting anything in return?"

Maya didn't answer him and Josh let her pretend it was a rhetorical question.

They spent the rest of the evening in silence.

 **.**

The next breakup was particularly bad. Josh had actually managed to propose to this one and she had said yes. Everything seemed to be going according to plan when he caught her with one of the bartenders in various stages of undress on the eve of their rehearsal dinner.

Never had Josh felt so many emotions at once. Shock, anger, sadness, disappointment. . . sickness. It was a toxic cocktail of feelings and he never wanted to feel anything _ever_ again.

His fiancee didn't even have the decency to look ashamed. She just giggled and pulled up the strap of her dress. "Ooops," she said, not meaning it at all.

"I-I-I don't understand," Josh said when he finally found his voice, hating himself for the way he was stuttering. He needed to be strong even though he felt like the world was spinning off its axis. "We're getting married tomorrow. . ."

"Don't be so sensitive Josh. This sort of thing happens more often than you think."

" _Really?"_

"They just don't get caught!" She answered, exiting the closet and following him down the hallway and into the hotel ballroom. "Come on Josh, we can still get married. It was just a silly fling."

"A silly fling?" Josh repeated. "For _what_!? To make sure you were making the right decision!?"

"Please Josh, lower your voice. . . everybody can hear you," she said quietly.

Josh rubbed the back of his neck, noticing for the first time that everybody had quieted down and was watching them without making so much as a peep.

"I'm sorry. . . I'm sorry but I can't do this," Josh told her, turning around and running away.

He was so intent on getting away that he didn't realize somebody was following him until he got to his car.

"You're in no condition to drive," Maya said. "Let me."

Josh handed her the keys wordlessly and went over to the passenger side of the car. Maya unlocked the car and slid into the driver's seat. As soon as he was buckled in, she started to drive as fast as the speed limit would allow.

She didn't stop until they were far away enough from New York and the signs were reading _Welcome to Cape Cod_ in the wee small hours of the morning.

She pulled into an inn that had vacancy, paid for a room with her a credit card and took him by the hand. When they got to their room, she kicked off her shoes and fell on the bed, still in her dress.

When he laid down beside her, she turned on her side and stared at him, unblinking. It was then he broke down crying. Maya scooted over to him and took him into her arms. He buried his face in her neck and she stroked his neck.

"I really thought she was the one this time."

"I know," Maya soothed. "I know. I'm sorry Josh."

"I'm done," Josh said.

"Don't say that!" Maya answered. "You don't mean it. You just haven't found the right one yet!"

"If it was meant to be then I wouldn't have made so many stupid decisions when it came to girls. If it was meant to be then I would be getting married tomorrow. . . not. . ."

"Lying in bed next to somebody you don't love?" Maya finished for him weakly.

There was a pause and Josh expelled a breath, his tears at a pause. "You know I love you Maya."

Maya didn't say anything. It wasn't the time to speak of her feelings for him. "You'll find love. . . _real_ love one day. You'll see."

Josh was too tired to argue her point.

He drifted in and out of sleep for the next couple of hours and before the sun had risen, he extracted himself from her arms and slipped outside. He called a taxi and went off to try and fix himself up.

He couldn't rely on Maya to do it for him anymore.

 **.**

Josh bought a ticket for the first bus that was leaving the station. He wound up in Maine where he did odd jobs and grew a beard and didn't fall in love with the wrong girl again.

He read books and wrote in a journal and letters to Maya and one day he woke up and realized he had been in love with the right girl his whole entire life. He just hadn't been able to see it even though it had been staring him in the face the whole entire time.

There was only one thing to do.

He had to go to her.

He only hoped she would feel the same way about him. He was pretty sure that she did.

 **.**

She was more beautiful than the night he had left her alone in the hotel room. She was serving coffee at _Topanga's_ and teasing the customers. Josh's heart skipped a beat on seeing her for the first time in over a year. He collected his thoughts and pushed the door open.

"I'll be right with you. . ." Maya trailed off. "Josh! You're _here_! I didn't think we'd ever see you again!"

"Well, here I am," Josh answered.

Maya dropped the plastic tray on the counter and ran over to see him, it didn't matter she was causing a scene straight from a romantic comedy. Josh was just happy to see her again.

She wrapped her arms around him and he hugged her back, picking her up and twirling her around. After a minute he pulled away just to look at her.

"You're here," Maya said when they were looking each other in the eyes.

"I'm here," Josh repeated. "I have so much to tell you."

"Good things, I hope."

"Only good things," Josh answered, finally realizing everybody was looking at them. "We'll talk later. When we can be alone."

"Okay," Maya agreed.

 **.**

"I love you," Josh confessed when they were finally by themselves, saying it so fast.

Maya laughed. "Slow down Uncle Boing, I think you just told me that you _love_ me!"

"I did."

"You love me? For real?"

"I do. . . love you," Josh answered. "Only I've been blind. I could have loved you forever. Only I never noticed it because of all the girls I've been in love with. . . I mean, liked before."

"You said you were never going to love anyone again," Maya remind him.

"Well, you can't not do something when you're already in it."

"What?"

"Never mind," Josh said. "I love you Maya."

"Well, I love you too. I have for a very long time now," Maya replied.

Josh sighed in relief and then he pulled her in for a kiss. It was the start of something good and right and the rest of their lives.

This time, nobody was going anywhere.

 _ **Hey, baby you know you can talk to me tonight**_

 _ **Don't lie awake**_

 _ **Oh let me in for heaven's sake**_

 **The End**

.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Okay, this has definitely come in second or third place for the longest one-shot that I've ever written. This is a birthday gift, so I'm not looking for reviews. But you still can if you want to.**

 **Rules will be updated on Friday. See you then!**

 **Love,**

 **Holly, 2/16/2016_**


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